Location Determination Using A Companion Device

• US 20160360354A1
• Filed: 09/29/2015
• Published: 12/08/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Rhee, Stephen J., Jensen, Bradley Joel, Mayor, Robert, Huang, Ronald K.
• Granted Patent: US 9,838,838 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/51 Relative positioning
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0072 Transmission between mobile stations, e.g. anti-collision systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0244 Accuracy or reliability of position solution or of measurements contributing thereto
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0252 Radio frequency fingerprinting
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0263 by combining or switching between positions derived from two or more separate positioning systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0284 Relative positioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/724095 Worn on the wrist, hand or arm
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/14 Direct-mode setup

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer program products for a mobile device determining its location based on a location of a companion device are described. A mobile device can receive a request for determining a location of the mobile device from an application. The request can include an accuracy specification providing a lower limit on accuracy of the determined location. The mobile device can determine that the mobile device is incapable of achieving that accuracy. The mobile device can then submit a location request to a companion device that has paired with the mobile device. The companion device, upon receiving the location request, can determine a location of the companion device and provide the location of the companion device to the mobile device. The mobile device can then designate the location of the companion device as the location of the mobile device, and provide the location to the application.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a mobile device, a first location request from an application program executing on the mobile device, the first location request requesting a location of the mobile device and including an accuracy specification specifying a location accuracy for the location;

determining, by the mobile device, whether the specified location accuracy is higher than a location accuracy achievable by a location determination subsystem of the mobile device;

in response to determining that the specified location accuracy is higher than a location accuracy achievable by the location determination subsystem, submitting a second location request by the mobile device through a wireless communication channel to a companion device that has paired with the mobile device, the second location request requesting location assistance information from the companion device; and

upon receiving the location assistance information from the companion device by the mobile device, determining an assisted location of the mobile device using the location assistance information and submitting the assisted location of the companion device to the application program as a response to the first location request.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile device is a wearable computing device, and the companion device is a smartphone.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first location request is submitted as a call to a function defined in an application programming interface (API) used by the application program, and the accuracy specification is designated as a property by the API.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the specified location accuracy is higher than the location accuracy achievable by the location determination subsystem comprises determining that the specified location accuracy is smaller than a pre-specified threshold value.

5. The method of claim 1, comprising, in response to determining that the specified location accuracy is not higher than the location accuracy achievable by the mobile device:

determining, by the mobile device, that the mobile device is incapable of determining the location of the mobile device; and

in response to determining that the location determination subsystem of the mobile device is incapable of determining the location of the mobile device, submitting the second location to the companion device, wherein a location determination subsystem is configured to determine the location of the mobile device based on radio frequency (RF) fingerprint data received from the companion device.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein determining that the mobile device is incapable of determining the location of the mobile device comprises at least one of:

determining that the mobile device has not received the RF fingerprint data;

or

determining that no wireless signal sources corresponding to received RF fingerprint data has been detected.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication channel is established using a protocol in which a communication range is less than the accuracy specification.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the location assistance information includes a location of the companion device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the location assistance information includes data that improves accuracy of a location estimate of the mobile device.

10. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising receiving, by a mobile device, a first location request from an application program executing on the mobile device, the first location request requesting a location of the mobile device and including an accuracy specification specifying a location accuracy for the location;

determining, by the mobile device, whether the specified location accuracy is higher than a location accuracy achievable by a location determination subsystem of the mobile device;

in response to determining that the specified location accuracy is higher than a location accuracy achievable by the location determination subsystem, submitting a second location request by the mobile device through a wireless communication channel to a companion device that has paired with the mobile device, the second location request requesting location assistance information from the companion device; and

upon receiving the location assistance information from the companion device by the mobile device, determining an assisted location of the mobile device using the location assistance information and submitting the assisted location of the companion device to the application program as a response to the first location request.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the mobile device is a wearable computing device, and the companion device is a smartphone.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the first location request is submitted as a call to a function defined in an application programming interface (API) used by the application program, and the accuracy specification is designated as a property by the API.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein determining that the specified location accuracy is higher than the location accuracy achievable by the location determination subsystem comprises determining that the specified location accuracy is smaller than a pre-specified threshold value.

14. The system of claim 10, the operations comprising, in response to determining that the specified location accuracy is not higher than the location accuracy achievable by the mobile device:

determining, by the mobile device, that the mobile device is incapable of determining the location of the mobile device; and

in response to determining that the location determination subsystem of the mobile device is incapable of determining the location of the mobile device, submitting the second location to the companion device, wherein a location determination subsystem is configured to determine the location of the mobile device based on radio frequency (RF) fingerprint data received from the companion device.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein determining that the mobile device is incapable of determining the location of the mobile device comprises at least one of:

determining that the mobile device has not received the RF fingerprint data;

or

determining that no wireless signal sources corresponding to received RF fingerprint data has been detected.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the wireless communication channel is established using a protocol in which a communication range is less than the accuracy specification.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the location assistance information includes at least one of a location of the companion device or data that improves accuracy of a location estimate of the mobile device.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors of a mobile device to perform operations comprising:

receiving, by the mobile device, a first location request from an application program executing on the mobile device, the first location request requesting a location of the mobile device and including an accuracy specification specifying a location accuracy for the location;

determining, by the mobile device, whether the specified location accuracy is higher than a location accuracy achievable by a location determination subsystem of the mobile device;

in response to determining that the specified location accuracy is higher than a location accuracy achievable by the location determination subsystem, submitting a second location request by the mobile device through a wireless communication channel to a companion device that has paired with the mobile device, the second location request requesting location assistance information from the companion device; and

upon receiving the location assistance information from the companion device by the mobile device, determining an assisted location of the mobile device using the location assistance information and submitting the assisted location of the companion device to the application program as a response to the first location request.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the first location request is submitted as a call to a function defined in an application programming interface (API) used by the application program, and the accuracy specification is designated as a property by the API.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein determining that the specified location accuracy is higher than the location accuracy achievable by the location determination subsystem comprises determining that the specified location accuracy is smaller than a pre-specified threshold value.